Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1887-01-28

trsordinary experiments in hYpnotism
made in the Saipetriere Hospital by Dr..
Babinski, under the direction OF Prof.
Uharcot.
"These experiments of Nj. Charcot are
vastly interesting, but they are not new,'
said DR.. Hammond to a Herald reporter
yesterday. sit has long been established
that hypnotlzed patients are under the
influence OF q principle known as 'sug-
gestion'-that is, they believe and act
upon any Idea suggested by a person who
is not bypnOtized. Two or three years
ago per Ormed various experiments upon
hypnotic patients In the presence OF the
members OF the New York Neurological
society"
HYPNOTIC FORGER.
Tell the people OF some of Them" sug
Eested the reporter.
81 bypnotiz4d one man." said DR.. Ham,
mona. land forced him to commit tor
gerry. AT my bidding he signed my name
to blank check. | told him to cash it at
the bank a chair and he did so. Now
you have the money! SAID |, and be ram
med it in his pocket, looking all around
meanwhile, coverJiy and suspiciously.
Suddenly | cried 'Police!' The patient
instantly darted under the table and tried
TO hide MIN self. He turned even paler,
tremb led and evinced every sign OF ex-
treme trepIdAtiOn.
He denied Enormously at first" con-
tinued DR.. Hammond, "tBat he had been
guilty Of the crime | charged him with.
/ insisted that he had the money in his
pocket, At last be confessed, drew it
forth and burst into expressions of sor-
row for his faux pas. All this, as | told
you, before the New YORK Neurological
SocieJy--a scientific body.
Il experimental further with this sub
ject, for he was good one. Pinching the
flesh on the back of his hand into little
bunch, and telling him that ne would suf-
fer nothing, | plunged knife through
the cone of cuticle. Not tremor or start
showed that he experienced pain; he did
not ndt ed feel the blade. Nor was ne
sensitive to a red hot iron when | burned
the back of hs neck with ii; but when |
cried, Now I'll burn YOU and placed my
finger on his tles6, he jumped and yelled
and writhed as il he were in torture.
could do anything with that man, |
gave him a solution of aloeS, and he drank
it ior champagne. | gave MIN a bottle;
told him it was baby, and he nursed 1t
and cooed over it.
~ nave had half dozen such patients
at my house for the amusement and in
sruction OF my friends. There is nothing
new in the principle OF suggestion; here's
book on the subject, by Bernheim."
THE CURE AND CAUsATION OF DISEASE.
The Herald's cabiegram states that DR..
Babinski hypnotized the two young
girls who suffered from hysterical cpl
lepsy. There were produced, first in one
and then in the other, d fferent apparent
bysterical symptoms. By the aid of a
magnet, and while the girls were seated
back to back, the symptoms were caused
10 disappear from one OF the patients and
10 appear at the same instant IN the other.
Referring to that. DR.. Hammond said
bvy eEY al
another manifestation of the principle of
suggestion. 1t could be done just as we'll
with magnet-shaped piece OF wood, or,
for that matter, with any ether object.
In an hystericai patient, hypnotiZed, one
can transfer hysterical symptoms from
one to the other part of the body. cause
them to appear or reappear, simply by
ordering them to do so.
- thus have caused complete paralysis
of different muscles" said DR.. Ham
mond. 81 have thrown a PATIENTS limb
into catalepuC rlgidity, so that neither
he nor any one else could bend it. | have
caused pain and relieved pain in various
parts of the body. Why, this principle is
60 we'll established that it can be applied
even 10 unhypnotized patients. Ii you
tell a nervous woman that you are
about to pass a current of electricity
through her head she will faint when you
place two wet sponges on her temples.
BYPNoTIsM DEFINED.
pray tell me, Doctor, what is hypnot.
ism 90 asked the reporter.
"HVpnotlsm appears to be condition
into which certain persons are capable of
passing, and during which they lose to a
great extent the faculty of originating
ideas and become more or less subject to
the will Of other persons. Any one can
influence a hypnotic subj ct. | NAV not
ha - ble IDflnnpnp cannot in.
fueuce me, but both of as could Influence
subject. Sometimes it's enough 10 cry,
There, it's all done and the subject falls
into the hypnotic state.
brand, IN his 'Neuyrpnology,' says:
take any bright object between the
thumb and fOlehnEer OF the leit hand and
hold it from four to eight inches from the
ewes OF the person to be nypnotiZed, at an
angle that VIII make him strain his eyes
to see it. he must regard II with fixed
stare. Sometimes his eyes Will close with
vibratory motion; som times they will
shut systematically, and he falls into the
hypnotic Sleep
EThe state has been called artificial
sOmnambulism. Mesmer induced it by
stroking the hands OF bis subject, A6be
Fayia. bv shouting, Barbarin BY pray
ing. | have made my subj cts Tx their
ewes upon this little glass prism from a
chandelier. The monks OF Mount Athos
throw themselves into the state ov fixing
their eyes on their well-ted paunches.
"By the by, you read occasionally OF
mysterious dsappearances, so-called,
where people lost toT time, turn up, ~
able to recolect where they have been or
TO give an account OF themselves. often
they have been in the hypnotic state, and
Will have a paper IN the next number
OF the Forum to prove it,
THE LENGTH OF HYPNOTIC CREDULTTY.
ait is impossible to fix limit to the ca
Dacity OF the human mind to lie de-
ceiyed," concluded DR.. Hammond. Take
the case OF Mary Ioit, poor woman who
in 1928 lived III Godalming, surrey.
''She pretended that after violent
LONGING 10 eat rabbits u rabbit was born
10 her, and she actually persuaded her
physIciau. Howard, a reputable man and
practitioner for thirty years, that in the
course of month she was blessed with
twenty rabbit children. George |. sent
one of his physicians, Akers, TO inVestI-
gate the extraordinary case. Mary Toit
convinced Akers, who promised TO pro-
cure a pension tor her. i he Kings SER
geant-surgeOn, st. Andre, brought back
Two rabbits from Godaiming that had the
honor OF being dissected before His Mai
esty. Sir Richard cunningham, backed
by Caroline. Princess Of Wales, detected
the cheat, after threatening Mary with